Punished by the Alpha Book 3

Artemis

When I make it to the pack hall, Jackson is standing outside waiting for me.

“Long night?” he smirks, his green eyes filled with mischief.

“You could say that,” I reply as I punch him on the shoulder. “Now, shut up and come on before I change my mind.”

He chuckles as he follows me inside to the line of people getting their food, and just as I expected, he asks about last night.

“So, what came up last night?”

With a slight shrug of my shoulder, I scoop a pile of mashed potatoes onto my plate. “I just wasn’t feeling well.”

“You sounded fine to me.”

“Okay,” I hiss. “I had a friend over.”

Jackson growls low in his chest at my lie, and I give him a fake look of shock.

“What? Don’t act like you are any better. I have covered for your ass countless times. Remember the time you were off with that one girl…oh, what was her name?”

We sit down at an empty table toward the back of the large room, and Jackson groans. “Do you always have to bring Layla up?”

Ignoring him, I take a large bite of the venison ribs on my plate, moaning when the multitude of flavors explodes in my mouth. “Geez, whoever made these needs to be thanked properly.”

He rolls his eyes at the change of subject, and I breathe a sigh of relief when he drops why he had to cover for me last night.

“So, is there a particular reason you wanted to have lunch with me, or were you just being friendly?” I ask him.

He stays silent, which is not normal for him, so I look up at him suspiciously.

“Okay, okay,” he laughs. “I was just wondering who the new girl was? The one you’ve been training for the last week.”

I should have known.

Leaning back in my chair, I quirk an eyebrow at him. “What’ll you give me if I tell you?”

He rolls his eyes dramatically and scoffs. “Is it always give and take with you?”

Shrugging my shoulders, I continue eating just to mess with him.

“Okay, what do you want?” he asks.

I take a huge bite of mashed potatoes and smile to myself. “Take the rest of my shifts this week.”

He looks at me in mock surprise and snorts.

“What? No way!” He shakes his head as he finishes off his plate before finally speaking again. “I’ll take your shift tonight, but that’s it.”

Breathing a sigh of relief, I silently thank the goddess. At least I can get out of one more night of guard duty. It will give me more time to figure out who my mate is.

That is…if I can get him to shift.

“Her name is Aaliyah,” I tell him. “She’s here visiting from the Mercury pack.”

He gives me his signature lopsided grin, and I know he isn’t done asking questions. “Can you introduce me to her?” he asks.

Before I get a chance to reply, my dad sits down at the table in front of me.

“Everything go okay last night?” he asks.

Jackson smirks before opening his mouth to say what I am sure is going to be a smart comment, but I give him a hard look, causing him to snap his mouth shut.

“Yeah, everything went fine,” I lie.

“Good. I was out this morning and thought I had smelled a wolf.”

My dad’s gaze is intense as he observes me, causing a nervous laugh to escape my lips. “Well, we are wolves after all,” I say, looking anywhere but him.

“No,” he says, shaking his head. “I know all the scents of my wolves. This wasn’t one of ours. I only caught the scent for a split second, but it agitated my wolf. I am certain it was another alpha.”

Luckily, Jackson speaks up, relieving me from making up any more lies. “Probably just some wolves passing through. A lot of wolves use the path just outside the southern border to travel.”

He throws me a quick glance, and I silently thank him as my dad nods his head in agreement.

“I hope you’re right,” he says. “The alpha from Gorion pack called this morning and said one of their prisoners escaped a few days ago.

“I doubt he makes it all the way up here but be on the lookout just in case he does.”

I swallow hard at his words before nodding. “Did he say what the prisoner looked like?”

“Just a large, black wolf. Nothing specific, but he did say he was feral and extremely dangerous,” he replies. “But, it’s probably nothing to worry about. Gorion pack is a hundred miles from here.”

I stay silent as he stands and kisses the top of my head. “Well, I need to get going. Those wolves aren’t going to train themselves. You coming, A?”

“Yeah,” I tell him, my heart beating frantically in my chest. “I’ll be there.”

After he’s gone, I let go of the breath I didn’t realize I was holding.

“Alright, who was it?” Jackson asks. “Who did you have at your house last night?” He folds his muscular arms over his chest and gives me a stern look.

“Just a friend,” I lie. My eyes never waver as they hold contact with his, and for a second, I don’t think he’s going to buy it. He looks at me suspiciously for several seconds but reluctantly nods.

When he’s got that look in his eye, I know he’s not going to let this go. He’ll sit back, watch, and wait until he figures it out. And he always figures it out. Hiding anything from him is useless.

I’m going to have to figure something out before my little secret gets out. If my mate is indeed the escaped prisoner, I’ve got a lot more to figure out than I originally thought.

“I’ll tell Aaliyah that you are interested since you saved my ass with my dad,” I tell him as I get up, and it’s enough to make him forget our earlier conversation.

“Thanks, A,” he grins. “Well, I need to go if I’m going to cover your shift this evening.”

After a few more minutes of poking fun at each other, we say our goodbyes.

As I head to the pack’s training facility, I can’t seem to think of anything other than what my dad told me.

Is it possible my mate is the prisoner from Gorion pack?

If I don’t get to the bottom of this soon, I could be putting my whole pack in danger, and that’s not something I am willing to do.